Alternate history: This setting supposes that magic has existed, publicly, at least since the early days of the first large civilizations. While in the ancient past there were a relatively small number of people who could reliably do magic, over millennia rituals, spells, and people who have been changed by lifetime bargains with the spirits have become more common. This should logically alter the history of our world in many ways.
That said, this is not a game for professional historians to debate about “realistic” changes to our history. Most of the decisions made here are meant to be fun or create an interesting setting to play in, not to assert specific theories about cultural development or the roles of important figures in historical events.
The Prejudice Problem: In any game dealing with historical events, one must consider the fact that various forms of bigotry, from racism, misogyny, to sexual and gender prejudices were inescapable parts of our heritage.
While this game does not intend to gloss over or ignore such things, neither is this intended to be the venue to delve deeply into such issues. We acknowledge these lingering hatreds while also advising that it’s up to an individual group of players to decide how much they want to explore these problems in their own games.
Federated American Colonies
The American Colonies were established by the British Empire in the early 1600s. In the 1700s, the twelve primary colonies reorganized themselves with permission of the Crown into a Federation, with a Viceroy appointed by the British Parliament to provide oversight for the Prime Minister of the Federal Parliament and the Lord Chancellor of America. The position of American Viceroy has been left vacant since 1895, as the British government felt at that time that their colonies were managing their own affairs quite well.
The FAC now covers the region of North America from the East Coast up through the remains of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy down to the southern border of Carolina, and areas west to generally the Mississippi River. While the former Holy Roman Empire colonies of Louisiana and Florida have not formally joined the Colonies, they are in active negotiation with the FAC’s Executive Council about doing so if the FAC declares itself independent of the British Empire. While they never quite entered open revolt from the HRE, they have long been known to ignore directives and orders from the emperor. Notably, when the FAC sent troops to fight in the War of Empires, neither Lousiana nor Florida sent soldiers north to harass the colonies.
The independent nation of Tejas, which had broken free of the Second Mexican Empire last century, has shown strong interest in joining forces with the FAC, especially since its trading partners in Mexico have become far less reliable. The Second Mexican Empire, which claims most of Central America and the West Coast of North America, has been waning in power since the death of the previous Emperor Salvador I. His daughter, the Empress Sophia, is young and uninterested in politics. She has made several offers to the FAC to take on the burden of managing the several states under her rule.
The current Federated American Colonies include: New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Acadia (encompassing the northern part of Maine and Nova Scotia, etc), Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virginia (which is one unified colony, Carolina (one colony, although there are active arguments about splitting the North and South due t0 serious cultural divisions), Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The territories of Lakota and Dakota belong to the Iron Confederacy but have actively welcomed settlers from the FAC to help farm and ranch their lands. They are culturally quite mixed and are considering becoming part of the successor to the FAC. Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas (with its old borders all the way out to the Rockies), and Arkansas were in their own way held by Native tribes who have mingled heavily with settlers to form their own independent states. Most of them are now curious about what the FAC will become, although there’s still a strong movement to join the Iron Confederacy. Kansas City, which sits on the border of the Colony of Missouri and the native-owned territory of Kansas, is one of the areas that muddy the waters of cultural and governmental division.
Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, are all sparsely populated and while they each have a territorial government of their own, they are also collectively members of the Apachean Coalition. An agreement dating back to the early days of rail travel have led to the creation of a few “rail colonies,” such as Denver, Cheyenne, or Salt Lake, which are technically outposts of the FAC. The Second Mexican Empire also lays claim to some of these regions, but there are few enough people who live in the hazy borders that neither the Coalition nor Mexico have cared to settle the matter for certain. As both groups are losing power, it’s becoming clear that only the FAC-held areas have much in the way of economic or political stability.
History of the FAC
The Massachusetts Rebellion of 1775 ended after a narrow vote in the Colonial Congress failed to ratify the Declaration of Independence. There were a few battles fought, but in the end the British loyalists were too much for the revolutionaries. A few key rebels, such as General George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, were all arrested. There were other minor rebellions and battles afterward, including the Whiskey Tax Rebellion, the Cotton Rebellion, the Stamp War, and the Iroquois War, some started by people who had wanted independence in the ‘70s, that led to several reforms for how the colonies were governed. Only Dr. Benjamin Franklin avoided political imprisonment; as a skilled magus and Clockmaker, he was too valuable to be locked away. The end of this crisis led to a compromise agreement that saw the creation of a Federation of the colonies, with William Howe as the Viceroy to the Americas. The British established on William Howe as Viceroy and General Aaron Burr as the first Prime Minister. While the elevated status of the FAC was considered more equitable by King George and Parliament, but several thinkers and activists continued to spread the idea that as long as they were colonies, the FAC were just trapped in a nicer form of servitude.
One of the major conflicts faced by the early FAC was the British Parliament’s Act of Abolition in 1801; all slaves in every British colony were to be educated and freed by 1810, and no more slaves could be purchased by British citizens. This led to the War of Abolition between the Southern colonies and the Northern colonies and the full might of Britain in 1803. This war did not last long—the Viceroy, head of Parliament, and Prime Minister were all firmly anti-slavery and moved swiftly to crush their opposition. They brought utterly destroyed the pro-slavery contingent and hanged many of their leaders, some of whom had recently been part of the Federal Parliament, as traitors to the Crown.
Despite this, the Colonies, much like the British Empire, often pretended to hold high-minded egalitarian ideals while maintaining a distinct class system that placed English aristocrats in the highest class, English citizens next, and everyone else, including nobles, from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, or the Americas in successively lower classes.
Westward settlement faced challenges from Native tribes and had stalled out by the time the Colonies reached the Mississippi. No one successfully went farther west without bargaining either with the Iron Confederacy, the Apachean Coalition, or individual tribes. Any attempt at forceful resettlement was faced with serious opposition both military and magical, and despite smaller numbers of Native tribes, is seemed that they had a higher percentage of Supernaturals ready and willing to fight. After a couple of serious losses, the FAC took a more cautious and measured approach to expanding their borders. After 1850, when the railroads extended all the way out to Checagou, a few “rail cities” were built in Native territories as trading centers that were officially parts of the FAC but had to accept the laws and customs of their host territories. A few of these led to Natives agrees to formalize a territory into a Colony and allow the FAC to expand out toward the Missouri River.
The last major conflict faced by the FAC before the Imperial War was the Mexican War of 1871, when the Second Mexican Empire attempted to lay claim to several of the colonies closest to its border, including the independent nation of Tejas, and some of the Apachean Coalition. The war was complicated because the original borders had always been unclear and also because neither the American nor Mexican Armies were particularly disciplined or well-organized. After a year of inconclusive battles, the war ended with almost nothing being settled. However, this signaled the start of the slow decline of the Second Mexican Empire, which has had shrinking influence and growing instability ever since; some consider the modern Mexican Empire to be nothing more than a paper tiger with no actual influence outside of its capital.
After the Mexican War, the FAC realized their military forces were shockingly ineffective, and efforts were put into making the Colonial Army a force worth considering. General Thomas Roosevelt, later Prime Minister of the FAC, made his name and career in rehabilitating the army. It’s often said that Roosevelt’s reforms are the reason the FAC’s contributions to the Imperial War were so impressive. Among other things, he fully integrated Supernatural forces into the military structure, despite protests from both the Academy and the usual military leadership. Before this, Supernaturals who joined the military often did as they wished without taking orders. Afterward, they were essential part of military strategy and tactics, and expected to be as disciplined as any mundane trooper. This professional approach to military magic, attempted first by Emperor Napoleon I with only partial success, was shocking to the other armies of the world. Even Prussia, known for their military strength, was not quite ready for hardened American soldiers who could wield magic as well as weapons.
The Great Depression began in Europe in 1925, driven in part by difficulty shifting from primarily agricultural to industrial economies, as well as clashes in how to best integrate magic, techne, and labor forces. The Depression rolled through most of the world, revealing sharp political weaknesses and divides that had not been clearly addressed for far too long. It’s common wisdom now that the changes required to climb out of the Depression were among the primary causes for the War of Empires, and still are being felt by the ongoing collapse of those empires. Even the victors of the war are not immune.
The current Prime Minister of the FAC is Sir Harry S. Truman, a native of Missouri and someone who deeply understands the concerns of the frontier and how Americans keep focusing on a larger future.
Checagou
This city, one of the three largest in the FAC, is a trading, commercial, and industrial hub. This was one of the places where the Holy Roman Empire’s trappers, the British settlers, and the native Potawatomi and Ojibwe tribes often fought but more often lived together at a natural portage. By the time Illinois became an official part of the Federated American Colonies, the local population was thoroughly blended together. However, this early racial harmony and mingling gave way to wave after wave of immigrants from various areas during periods of rapid growth, and so there are many segregated communities within what should be a diverse city.
A branch of the Royal American Academy of Magic was founded in this city just before the Imperial War began, and many of the Academy’s first graduates are now veterans. There is perhaps a larger percentage of supernaturals than may be found in many cities; many magical people who served their countries in war have relocated here in hopes of taking part of the city’s promise of new opportunities.
Unfortunately, these opportunities, rapid growth, and handling of so much money makes the city a hotbed of criminal activity. The most well-known of these groups, the Chicago Outfit, has captured the public imagination, especially thanks to the exploits of Al “Scarface” Capone and Eric “Nightmare” Talescu, but they are far from the only examples of organized crime in the city.
Currently, the cities of Checagou, Philadelphia, New York City, and Columbia in Maryland are contenders to be the capital of whatever country the FAC will eventually become. For almost a century, the Prime Minister’s seat of power has been in NYC while the Federal Parliament has been met in Columbia and the High Courts have been in Philadelphia. There are those who argue that a fresh start, with a unified capital, would be ideal, especially if new countries or states join the remade federation, which would shift the population and territory much farther west.
Royal American Academy of Magic (Vasiliki Amerikaniki Akadimia Mageias)
This school, whose primary campus is located in Boston, is the preeminent school of magical training in the FAC. The Boston Academy is considered to be almost as high quality as the Royal British Academy, which itself is seen as almost as prestigious as the Hermes Trimegistus Academies in Athens and Hermopolis. Several major cities have smaller, less prestigious schools that are overseen by the Royal American Academy. If the school is not officially part of the Academy system, the degrees awarded for theoretically equal work are considered “lesser” and those holding them are sometimes seen asdangerous to themselves and others even in the face of all evidence. In the world of formal magical schooling, this tight hold by one school is becoming a problem with the industrialization and widespread investment in more magical education.
Degrees from the schools that follow the Hermetic and Hecatean traditions are as follows:
- Magister—a fully-trained wizard with appropriate specializations but at least working knowledge of every type of magical focus, is adept with both theurgy as well as goetia, and has learned several spells, rituals, and enchantments. Only a magus may become a Magister, although there have been occasional other supernaturals who have tried and failed to complete these studies. Every Magister between the ages of 20-40 were recruited for the Imperial War and less than 30% of their numbers survived.
- Laureate—a more-specialized practitioner which sometimes includes supernaturals besides a magus. May have studied theurgy or goetia, but it is rare that they are experts in both. Many more Laureates have been educated at these institutions than have been in the past, in part to round out the ranks for magical soldiers during the War. Currently three times as many Laureates are being trained as Magisters.
- Academ—Also known as “graduatus,” this rank is a new innovation in formal magical training and still not widely accepted by those who care about such things. These are supernaturals and some magus who do not have the time or talent to complete the more-advanced degrees. These graduates have at least a basic grounding in the history and theory of magic, and have demonstrated skill with at least goetia if not theurgy. Some of the stuffier members of the Academy have taken to calling this rank individuals with a “technical” degree, and indeed many specialists with techne and scientia will start their careers after receiving their academ degrees.
The Apachean Coalition
This coalition holds sway over the central, mountain, and western but not West Coast regions of North America. FAC and Mexican settlers often live within the influence of the Apachean Coalition, more or less peacefully, especially within the “rail cities” that are FAC colonies in Apachean lands. The Coalition is pretty fractious, formed as it is from tribes that have as much history of fighting each other as they do working alongside one another, and they have to admit that the FAC’s wealth and industry is appealing. There have been talks among the Coalition of joining the Iron Confederacy, but that seems unlikely right now.
The Iron Confederacy
Across the northern and upper plains states north of FAC, the Native tribes of the Cree, Metis, and Iroquois/Haudenosaunee spent centuries trading with both the Holy Roman Empire and British Empire, pitting each against the other while maintaining their own independence. The British Empire established a presence in the eastern portion of the Canadian expanse, and then lost it to the HRE again, which lost its grip in the past few decades as the resurgent Iron Confederacy pushed back against them. These tribes are now inerested in building a stronger union of tribal states. The Ojibwe of the central regions of these northern lands have lately become prominent in the Confederacy’s politics. There has been discussion about whether the Iron Confederacy should expand to the west or farther south into the central portion of North America which is currently home to many independent tribal territories, such as the Lakota, Dakota, and Kansa lands. Most of the Council of Chieftains believe the Iron Confederacy is already too big and unmanageable. Others are tempted by the idea of a grand North American country that would dwarf all other nations. A growing group also wonders if the Confederacy would be better off joining in whatever the FAC will become.
Fusang
A region of the central West Coast, primarily located in the city of Danzhou that lies around the Bay of Hui Shen, and settled sparsely to about fifty to a hundred kilometers from there. Once a place of legend, this region was first settled temporarily by the retinue of the sorcerer Xu Fu in 255 BCE. Xu Fu returned years later to seek out more elixirs that would extend the life of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Some other explorers from China, Japan, and even Korea sent expeditions toward Xu Fu’s discovery, but it was not until the monk Hui Shen led a group there in 499 AD did the temporary encampment become a long-term settlement. The explorers interbred with local tribes such as the Ohlones and Miwoks, with an occasional influx of Asian colonists. By the time explorers from Hispania discovered the area in the 18th century, the people of Fusang had built a wall around their city and were living fairly peaceful lives. They had culture and their own effective techne and scientia, so they became an independent trading nation as the Spaniards and Mexicans fought over the surrounding territory. They are still independent and have lately sent envoys to the FAC to discuss formalizing relations. The size of Fusang’s borders have not grown significantly in centuries, while its population has, and so there are plenty of young people in Fusang who are looking to settle new lands, including the cities of the FAC.
Brazilian Empire
Once a colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, and thus ultimately under the control of the Holy Roman Empire, the Brazilians were known as a somewhat stubborn and recalcitrant people. They had long discussed the idea of Independence from their Europan forebears. Originally a colony sent to conquer South America in the name of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1822 the ruler Dom Pedro I, Prince of Portugal, declared independence from his country (and more importantly, his father), and established the Brazilian Empire.
Brazil struggled to survive, thanks to conflicts with the the Incans to the East, the Marajo along the Amazon River, and many smaller native tribes throughout this territory. Dom Pedro I, or more precisely his wife Dona Maria Leopoldina, a scholar, mage, and daughter of a previous Holy Roman Emperor, proved to be expert at political maneuvering. She pushed for social changes, such as the ending of slavery, and negotiated terms with the various hostile groups opposing the Brazilians. One of the only major conflicts occurred when Dom Pedro tried to reduce his wife’s influence and found himself on the wrong side of an undeclared Civil War. After more than one assassination attempt, Dom Pedro I died and fifteen laters, Dona Maria passed away, leaving her son Don Pedro II to rule.
He was a good and thoughtful ruler, and proved to be a strong battle commander. Don Pedro II was also something of a scholar and corresponded with many well-known members of the scientiâ and magia both. Don Pedro II eventually believed that the empire needed to shift to a republican country, and the unrest this caused led to a coup attempt that he only reluctantly resisted. He gave up his crown to his daughter, Dona Isabel, who while clever and strong-willed, was not as magically talented nor as good at diplomatic matters as either her father or grandmother. After her short troubled reign, she abdicated in favor of her own son, Don Pedro III. In this time, despite…or perhaps because of…the various internal and external disputes, Brazil became the dominant trading and military power of South America.
Don Pedro III was a popular ruler, but was often seen as not the same kind of intellectual powerhouse as his forebears. Perhaps due to this reputation, he chose to lead a division of troops to Europa to fight in the the War of Empires, and bravely led them from the front lines. This inevitably resulted in his death in 1942. Rather than passing the title to Don Pedro III’s infant son, the once-Chancellor Getulio Vargas stepped in and declared himself the first the President of Brazil, stating that Don Pedro II’s outline for a republican country would be followed to the letter, resulting in elections for a democratic Parliament, Prime Minister and President by 1950.
The British Empire and United Kingdom
Despite their origins on a small island, this Empire nearly reached every continent, and technically is still sovereign over half the world, including the Federated American Colonies. The British Empire is struggling to survive right now, primarily due to the cost in both resources and soldiers in the Imperial Wars. Diplomatically speaking, the British are the most powerful nation in their part of the world, and not long ago had more mages, Supernaturals, and normal soldiers in their military than any other nation on the planet, even India. But in reality they’ve lost so many people, suffered so much damage to their country—including the loss of King George VI and his Queen Elizabeth, and spent so much of their resources in the war, that their strength is in doubt.
Many of the veterans of the war have retired or have emigrated to the FAC that the British simply can’t browbeat other nations through threat of arms the way that they once did. They also spent so much money and worked so hard to fight that their more diplomatic and economic tools have become less important. It’s a forgone conclusion that India and the Federated American Colonies will declare for independence soon and the British have no viable recourse but to allow their petitions to pass in Parliament. Most people think the empire will not last another decade; some even wonder if it will last another five years.
After a magical attack killed King George VI and her mother Queen Elizabeth just before New Year’s of 1944, the young Queen Elizabeth II proved to be impossible to find at first, triggering a crisis of succession. It turned out that she was unwilling to let her training for military service as an ambulance driver and mechanic be only for show, and had used illusion magics and a golem controlled by her sister, Princess Margaret, to cover for her. She had been on the front lines of the war, transporting injured men in her ambulance while avoiding artillery fire and rampaging elementals on her way back to the field hospitals. According to myth, she was at the end of a two-day stretch and still covered in grease and blood when she was officially informed that she was Queen.
Although she had only served for three months, the young queen had seen “enough of war, and enough to imagine the horrors experienced by those who had served for years.” She sought ways to end the war as soon as possible, either diplomatically or through decisive military action. After the Destruction of Neudeck ended the war, Elizabeth II said, “We have paid a horrible cost, but we have purchased the precious gift of peace.”
The queen has publicly stated many times that she never wants to fight another war, and that empires always inevitably lead to war. To that end, she has made several moves to help facilitate the process of countries finding independence from the British Empire, and has encouraged other leaders, such as her friend Tsar Nicholas of Russia, to follow suit.
The Europan Coalition
This is the name of the military alliance that formed between the British Empire, the Russian Empire, and those countries that attempted to break free of the HRC, Prussians, and Ottoman Empires. After the war, the alliance was never formally dissolved. However, the member nations are not certain how much authority the Coalition holds, or should hold. In the meantime, the Europan Coalition has been shifting to diplomatic and economic affairs until someone forces them to stop. The Coalition has recognized Francia, Hispañia, and the German Confederation as members, and have a list of many smaller potential countries such as Austria or Italia. Many of these states themselves either still use the government structures left behind by their empires or have not decided how to organize themselves. Some wonder if it would not be easier to continue forward within the Coalition.
The Europans also technically command the remainder of unified military forces that won the war and therefore possess the second-largest army in the world, after the Republic of China. That said, the Coalition is itself not an actual governing body as such as would need to go through several major changes to become one. The Russians especially are not that interested in seeing that happen, at least not unless the Russian government takes the lead role in determining that structure.
Holy Roman Empire
The instigator and victim of the Imperial Wars. After fighting to end the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Emperor Napoleon V made an alliance with the Prussian Empire and split the countries between them. Together they attacked the British, Ottoman, and Russian Empires at the same time despite the fact that the HRE member states were all to various degrees wanting their freedom. Napoleon V grew ill during the Imperial War and appointed his nephew Louis Bonaparte to be Napoleon VI. The Last Holy Roman Emperor did not have the genius, diplomatic acumen, or magical talents that had helped the previous claimants to the throne, and soon had no influence over the fate of his empire. The Prussians under General Paul von Hindenburg ended up de facto rulers of the HRE, although this was never formalized and so at the end of the war, both Prussia and the HRE were considered their own states to be dealt with individually. Oskar von Hindenburg, Paul’s son, has tried to make a claim to a unified throne, but no one official has even bothered to acknowledge his arguments. Right now, the various states from the HRE are either in the process of forming independent countries or are already operating as if they are independent, under the watchful attention of the Europan Coalition.
Imperial Japan (Dai Nippon Teikoku)
Ruled by Emperor Hirohito, who by all reports is a formidable mage, Imperial Japan is a key concern for the FAC. They want unquestioned influence over every parcel of land that touches the Pacific Ocean, including the West Coast of America. China (and to a lesser extent Korea) is Japan’s biggest concern, but they do have agents in the FAC, attempting to keep them from making claims for the West Coast.
At the start of the War of Empires, Japan declared itself neutral despite attempts by both the Prussians and British to join either side. However, this neutrality in the Europan conflict did not carry over to Asia, or even the Indian subcontinent. Japan sent navies and armies to attempt to conquer China, most of the smaller Southeast Asian countries, and either lay claim to India or inspire enough internal turmoil to make the British Raj unable to focus farther east. The Europan Alliance did not focus on the Pacific theater the way they did in Europa, North Africa, and Western Asia, but both the Russian and British Empires did not want to see Japan succeed in their dreams of conquest. They mobilized troops in both China and India to resist the Japanese advance, and paid several of the Native tribes of America as well as the Mexican Empire to help foil Japanese efforts to reclaim Fusang and spread across the American West Coast.
When the Europan war ended, Britain sent a diplomatic mission to Emperor Hirohito to explain that the horrible battle magics used to shatter the Prussian leadership could be deployed at will in Japan as well. The emperor, having paid close attention to the Europan theater and frustrated by Japan’s several losses, publicly executed his Prime Minister Tojo Hideiki before declaring that the Empire of Japan would be content with its current holdings. As those holdings included several territories they did not hold before the war, many other countries argued they should turn their war efforts toward the Pacific and force Japan to retreat back to its island. But Queen Elizabeth and Tsar Nicholas, both of them weary of war, decided that would be a problem for another day and signed a temporary Cessation of Hostilities agreement which has been extended without comment for the past two years.
Japan is known for its techne, and have sent airships and sailing ships across the world. There is a sizable Japanese population in Fusang, but after Hirohito’s attempts to bring that area under Japanese rule, the population there have been loudly disavowing the nation of their ancestors.
India
Although India is still technically part of the British Empire, it has already been resolved that the nation will be independent within the next year or two. Lord Linlithgow, who had been the previous British Viceroy, had committed Indian troops and industry to supporting the Allies during the Imperial War, and two and a half million Indian troops served with distinction in North Africa, Asia Minor, Southeast Asia, and against Japan in Burma and the Pacific theater. In the process, India became one of the most powerful nations militarily and in terms of industrial capacity. This did not come easily, and there were many internal conflicts, including the Indian National Army joining forces with Japan in an attempt to end the British Raj.
Queen Elizabeth II, after the War of Empires, replaced the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow immediately with her cousin, the Archmagister Lord Mountbatten, who is a much more military-minded person. He immediately put down several rebellions through force, but soon realized that the problem was too large to handle in that fashion. The more he examined the situation, the more he came to see that India would not longer submit to British rule. Elizabeth had already expressed her desire to offer independence to the British territories, and so Mountebatten has been working toward that goal, although it has been a clumsy process. One issue was that the Partition of India and Pakistan, meant to quell sectarian violence, was poorly handled to the point where the Queen herself had to visit the country and untangle the mess.
India’s independence is guaranteed to take place in the next year or two at most, although both Archmagister Mountbatten and the Queen have no desire to let the process devolve into the same shambles as the Paritition.
Maravi Confederacy
This is a collection of lands through most of Central Africa, containing the countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Congo, Angola, and Tanzania. It is currently the largest and most powerful government in the continent of Africa, although the Confederacy is actually just a loose cooperative structure and not as tightly-held or centrally organized as most Empires. There is a vote among the leadership of the individual nations every decade to determine which land will house the Confederacy’s capital and who will serve as Kalonga (ruler), Nyangu (mother or sister, generally the chief advisor), Mwali (main wife or daughter), and Makewana (head priestess/rainmaker). This is not the first time the Maravi have ruled like this; there was at least one previous Empire and another Confederacy that was encountered by the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century, and the Romans made mention of them in some of their histories. Egypt also has long traded with a previous form of the Maravi, including near the start of the Pharaonic Dynasties.
There is a tradition in the Confederacy that the Maravi region contains the first dwelling of humans that was larger than a tribal camp, the first town, the first village, and the first kingdom. Certainly archaeological evidence places people in this region as far back as 150,000 years ago. While there is not the same solid evidence for Antediluvian attempts at civilization in the Maravi regions as there are in the Sudan or the Nabta Playa in the Sahara, there are certainly collections of tools, cave paintings, and burial areas that suggest relatively large groups of people.
There are long traditions of Supernaturals among these peoples. Some scholars estimate that there are more mages in the population of the Maravi than any other region on the planet. The Maravi Confederacy’s leaders often follow a secret religious doctrine known as Nyah, and practice almost ritualistic secret-keeping in other ways. If there are traces of an Antediluvian culture here, they might very well just be kept from the rest of the world.
Ottoman Empire
Once the rulers of the Middle East, West Asia, Northeastern Africa, and parts of Southeastern Europa, the Ottomans have fallen on hard times. From its origins in the 12th century as the powerful mage Osman I conquered Anatolia and other territories, to conquering the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century with the use of enchanted artillery and cannons, to the century-long rule of Suleiman the Magnificent of the 16th and early 17th century, the Ottomans were a dominant force not only in the Arabian Peninsula but throughout that part of the world. However, some say that while Suleiman was responsible for the height of the Empire, the many rituals, deals with entities, and captured monsters of his era may have compounded the problems the Ottomans have faced after his death. By the 18th Century, the Europan and Asian countries were easily their equals in military might—especially naval power—and began to seek revenge for the stranglehold on Mediterranean and Arabian Sea trade enforced by the Ottomans for years. Most of the 19th Century was spent with similar efforts to cut the Ottomans out of dominance over overland trade routes, with special efforts from the Russian Empire and India to reduce their influence.
They were allies of the HRE and the Prussians during the War of Empires, but they were not able to contribute fully to the effort and the Prussians abandoned any pretense of mutual defense in the last year of the War. The Russians took advantage of this opening and struck deep into Ottoman territory, capturing what goods they could, and retreated back to their own borders.
While the Ottomans still hold sway in Turkey, Anatolia, Syria, and Yemen, Iran has broken away, as have several smaller countries in Asia Minor. A long-suppressed revolution has been simmering for decades and it threatens to topple Sultan Abdulmejid II, who has only been in power for a few years by this point.
Prussian Empire
After the HRE attacked Austro-Hungary, the Prussians joined in, claiming Hungary and parts of Austria for their own. This, combined with ambitions for taking much of Russia’s territories on the eastern border of Prussia, if not all of Russia, kept them in the war until the end. General Paul von Hindenburg was both the head of the Prussian military and the effective ruler of the country, since Kaiser Wilhelm II was too old and infirm to have any real say about affairs of state. Von Hindenburg was also given control over the HRE by the last year of the war, since Napoleon VI was such an ineffectual leader. When von Hindenburg, his general staff, Napoleon VI, and his own children were all killed at Neudeck in the last battle of the war, the Prussians completely fell apart. Even now, there is deep confusion about whether there is a German Confederation (as the Treaty of Versailles claims) or there are 12, or 27, or 39 independent countries in this region.
Oskar von Hindenburg, who first tried to claim the Holy Roman Empire as his to rule in his father’s stead, and then after the war also tried to claim Prussia, still makes arguments that he should be the head of state for a unified Deutschland. Lately he has been making his claims from his exile in Checagou.
Republic of China
The last Emperor of China, the Xuantong Emperor, who uses the personal name Puyi, gave up his throne after nearly two decades of the Chinese Civil War. Puyi had lasted as long as he did in part due to the raw power and macinations of his great-aunt, the Empress Dowager Cixi. In the mid-19th century, Cixi, the honored concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor had given birth to his only son. When the Xianfeng Emperor died, his son became the Tongzhi Emperor at the age of five. The previous Emperor’s wife, Ci’an, and the mother of the current empreror, Cixi, were both given the titles of Empress Dowager, and ruled as co-regents.
Ci’an was considered a polite, quiet, and studious woman. She was a noted mage, but only showed interest in using her magic to protect the Empire and the dynasty. Cixi was a strong Dreamwalker, and was known as clever, calculating, incisive, and somewhat ruthless. It was well-known that she was the one making most of the real decisions about how the empire was run, while Ci’an raised the children and guided the internal affairs of the household. Despite their different natures, Cixi and Ci’an were apparently good allies and close friends, and foiled more than one plot meant to remove the women from power simply through the strength of bond with each other.
Even when Cixi’s son, the Tongzhi Emperor, took control of the empire when he reached maturity, the Empresses Dowager outmaneuvered him and were eventually running things again even as the emperor fell sick with smallpox and passed away. Cixi installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor, and while at first he acceded to the guidance of the dowagers, when Ci’an died, he attempted to take full control from his aunt Cixi.
Empress Dowager Cixi managed to regain control after the Guangxu Emperor attempted to make many radical changes attempting to speed up the progress of reform in the country. Conservative elements rebelled, and Cixi–who not only agreed in principle with her nephew’s reform ideas but had authored and implemented the earlier version of them herself, but not as quickly or recklessly–was again in charge. She barely managed to survive the following Boxer Rebellion, keeping the foreign interests of the Eight Nations Alliance, led by the British Empire, from gaining a stronger foothold in her country. However, doing so emboldened other forces wanting change. Another rebellion a decade later led to the death of the Guangxu Emperor. Cixi was no longer aging, but her popularity was waning. She installed her great-nephew Puyi as the Xuontong Emperor, and managed to oversee his education for the next two decades despite all the many challenges she faced to her leadership.
She officially stepped back from her long regency in 1924. Immediately, the Xuantong Emperor proved to be reasonably competent as an administrator but quite poor at diplomacy and handling uprisings. In 1927, two rebel factions, one led by the prominent group of ministers and leaders who called themselves the Kuomintang and another following the military faction led by General Chiang Kai-shek, rose in opposition the the imperial court. One of the first strikes made in the war was the death of Cixi. The Guangxu Emperor managed to cling to his throne through use of his own magics, the many preparations and allies made by Cixi and Ci’an, and sheer stubborn determination. However, after two decades either the long struggle took its toll, and in 1927 Puyi gave up his title and named Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the KMT, as the next ruler of China. He died not long after, presumably assassinated before he could be used to upset the new order.
Yat-sen immediately declared China a Republic and not an Empire, and called himself President. However, many people saw him as just another follower of the imperial dynasty’s ways, and gave new support to Kai-shek’s side. During this time, one of Kai-shek’s most prominent lieutenants, Mao Zedong, took up an obscure economic and political philosophy known as communism, and eventually broke away. Even as Sun Yat-sen died and his successor did not last long, Mao and Chiang continued to fight for dominance.. This second phase of the Civil War continued even as the War of Empires began, and kept China from being meaningfully involved. They couldn’t even offer a paltry resistance to Japan, who took the opportunity to start making inroads against the borders of China.
This has proven to be a mistake. The two sides settled their differences in a stalemate, informally dividing the more-rural Western and Northern parts of the country to Mao’s control, and the more-urban areas to Chiang’s Republic. They have brought together enough forces and defenses to reinforce their borders and drive out the Japanese. However, it’s known that the Japanese Empire is still trying to subtly interfere with Chinese politics.
Russian Empire
At the rise of the 20th century, the Russian royal family suffered multiple attacks, from an internal coup attempt staged by the notorious Rasputin–who was only killed when his supposed victim Alexei discovered his own magical potential. Then they faced the Bolshevik-driven October revolution and the loss of several royals, and then barely made it through the Civil War, with only a few members of the Romanov family still alive and able to keep their grip on power.
After their troubles, the Romanovs clamped down hard on the nobles and merchants of Russia, and are currently ruling with something of an iron fist and the promise of terrible curses that will be visited on their enemies. While some thought they would be unready for war, the Russians chose to fight against the Holy Roman Empire and the Prussians–in part to oppose their ancient enemies the Ottomans–and found themselves surprisingly allied with the Europans. They struck hard, with a relatively small army but one that that had a large number of Supernaturals in it.
The price for their success may be coming due, though. While a few members of the Romanovs seek new investments and an alliance with a future American country, the Tsar is often occupied with discontent–or the appearance of such–at home. There have been some hints that a few parts of the Empire, such as the Ukraine or Georgia, would like to be independent, and the Tsar will hear nothing of it.
Second Mexican Empire
The region of Central America that became the Mexican Empire was originally controlled by three nations based around the city-states of Tenochtitlan, home of the Mexica people (whom the Spanish called the Aztecs), Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan. This Triple Alliance was sometimes called the Aztec Empire, especially by the French, Spanish, and Dutch explorers who encountered them. The term “empire” was somewhat overstated; while the Mexican people and Tenochtitlan became the dominant force in the Alliance, the three major city-states and many lesser cities were held together mostly through trade and marriage alliances rather than governmental or military force. The Huey Tlatoani, the head of the Alliance, was more a person who was paid tribute that one who ruled with an iron fist.
When the Spanish and other explorers first came to the region, at first they were cautious about not only the military force but the magical abilities on display among the Aztec Empire. The conquistador Herman Cortes established a trading port at Veracruz, but he pushed for years to be sent an overwhelming force to conquer the land for God and country. The Mexica, for their part, were mostly curious and even somewhat friendly to the colonists, until the fighting broke out in earnest. Cortes had been spending the decades of forced diplomacy making inroads with several of city-states and tribes that were not happy with the dominance of the Mexica, and eventually turned them against the Tlatoani, Cuauhtemoc. The war for control over the empire raged for another two decades, claiming the lives of both Cortes and Cuauhtemoc, his empress Tecuichpotzin, and their first child. Her second son claimed the title and called himself Moctezuma III, who fought the Spanish to a standstill, but only after losing Tenochtitlan, which they renamed Ciudadad de Mexico.
After a while, the tense alliance became less tense. The Mexica returned to their methods of integrating and allying with former enemies, through trade and marriages, and the Spanish, occupied with wars and struggles in Europa, came to appreciate the pragmatism of the Mexica cultures. By the 18th century the region that the Mexica still referred to as the Triple Alliance (with the Spanish controlling Tenochtitlan as part of the triad), and the Spanish King referred to as “New Spain,” decided to shift to a more independent stance and became the Mexican Empire.
This lasted until the early 19th century, when in response to aggression from Napolean caused Fernando VII of Spain to reassert control over New Spain as a potential refuge, which triggered a civil war within the Spanish population of Mexico, as well as between the tribes and city-states and the colonists. This war kept the individual forces divided when in the latter half of the 19th century, the Holy Roman Emperor Napolean III sent his chosen ruler, Maximillian I, to Mexico to conquer it again in the name of the HRE. This Maximillian did, barely, forming the Second Mexican Empire. The HRE spent time and resources maintaining its position in Central America, as well as the North American territories of Louisiana and Florida, although its power was fragile at best. After Maximillian died without an heir, the Mexican put forth Juan Moctezuma, descendant of the ancient royal line, and their Holy Roman Emperor accepted him as ruler so long as he married a Spanish woman.
They went back to the tense alliances of trade and marriage, attempting to isolate themselves from Europan problems, with limited success. However, in the late 19th century, Moctezuma V attempted to conquer the small nation of Tejas and reassert strong control over the region of California, including making a claim on Fusang and several of the territories in between.. This overextended his forces terribly, and caused a brief alliance between Fusang, the Apachean Coalition, and Tejas. The loss in military forces and prestige was enough to trigger multiple succession crises. Currently, Adán Jesús Isaías de Piérola Iturbide, one of the descendants of Maximilian I, lays claim to the throne, although there are challenges from two other would-be rulers, including Isabel Moctezuma.
In the view of some experts, the Second Mexican Empire is not a viable political force even now, with its individual states asserting self-control in defiance of any commands from Mexico City. There are some, including members of the FAC’s Parliament, who think that any push from the FAC or its successor country will cause the empire to collapse entirely and give up its territories. However, there is an internal movement toward establishing a modern republican country that would be both more in the tradition of the Aztec Empire and more stable.
Zulu Kingdom
The current rulers of South Africa, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, founded in the early 19th century by the famous warlord and tribal leader Shaka. While Shaka was a good leader and both personally powerful magically—he was either a strong Avatar or Shapeshifter, and legends vary—and had several close allies who were also Supernatural, he was known to excesses of emotion and irrational demands. When his mother Nandi died, Shaka at first ordered an extreme form of public grieving that would have devastated his nation, but only his lieutenant and sometime rival Mzilikazi—who was apparently Shaka’s equal both in fighting skill and magical power—was able to keep Shaka somewhat under control. The two of them were both friends and enemies during their lifetimes, but just barely managed to work together to expand and preserve the Zulu Kingdom, eventually conquering the Ndebele and foiling a plot by Shaka’s half-brother Dingane to assassinate Shaka and take over the Kingdom. After this action, Shaka formally declared Mzilikazi his brother and successor.
The Zulus expanded toward the once-Dutch, now-British colony on the Cape of Good Hope, who were themselves expanding due to internal tensions. The Dutch settlers known as the Voortrekkers, unhappy with British rule, were pushing farther into the countryside, and the British were happy to follow them and expand their own influence. In the mid-1830s, the expanding Zulu Kingdom met the Voortrekkers and war immediately ensued. The Voortrekkers found themselves losing the initial battles and retreated back to the Cape, with the Zulus in hot pursuit. The British Army made a better show against the Zulus and slowed their advance. In one of the first clashes between the British and the Zulus, Shaka was killed, and Mzilikazi took over. He played a much longer game, slowly gaining alliances with others including the Maravi and surrounding the British. After a decade of conflict, the Zulus entered Cape Town and the British surrendered. Mzilikazi proved to be a willing to work with the Europans, and made alliances that helped secure and preserve the longevity of the Zulu Kingdom.
There have been various internal conflicts, including a civil war that nearly destroyed the Zulu Kingdom in the late 19th century, but it was resolved as the Zulu monarchs agreed to work more closely with the British Empire to increase their general quality of life. While some called the Zulus a British colony at long last, the Zulus always fiercely maintained that they were independent but allies. They sent several divisions of troops to help support the British in North Africa against the Ottoman Empire. King Cyprian kaSolomon, who is a Magister educated in Britain, went with those troops, leading them in battle and winning several honors. He is considered an actual friend as well as ally of Queen Elizabeth II.